Bay Area Performing Arts

On Rand Avenue in Daphne, Bay Area Performing Arts has spent the years since its 2018 founding building a home for musical theatre on the Eastern Shore. The organization was started by Tara Knight, who took an empty warehouse and turned it into a performing arts center, and who still serves as owner and executive director today. The stated mission centers on providing joy and fulfillment through celebrating individuality in the performing arts, delivered in a family oriented setting.

The programming splits into two related tracks. One is a performance program that stages musical theatre productions open to the public, with tickets sold through Eventbrite rather than at a traditional box office; ticket sales are final except when a performance itself is canceled, though exchanges for the same production are allowed with 24 hours’ notice, subject to seating availability. The other is an academy that trains students from kindergarten age through college level in acting, commercial and classical voice, and technical theatre, the behind the scenes work of lighting, sound, and stage management that keeps a production running.

Shows rotate through the year, and the organization keeps a public archive of past performances. Past productions have included Shrek the Musical Jr., Sweeney Todd the Musical, Oklahoma!, Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast Jr., Legally Blonde Jr., Elf the Musical Jr., Peter Pan Jr., Seussical Jr., and The Addams Family Young at Part, among others, a list that spans everything from junior adaptations for younger casts to full scale productions for older students. Because the group operates as a small, independent company rather than a touring house, productions tend to lean on local talent developed through the academy itself, and the organization has said every student who auditions for a season is cast in at least one show, whether on stage or on a behind the scenes crew.

The Rand Avenue building itself is built for performance rather than repurposed for it. It includes a grand curtain, legs, cyclorama, and scrim, more than fifty permanently installed lighting fixtures, raked seating for upwards of 140 patrons, and over 900 square feet of stage space, the kind of infrastructure that lets the organization mount its own productions in house rather than renting a stage elsewhere.

The academy side of the business is where much of the year round activity happens. Voice instruction covers both commercial and classical styles, acting classes run across age groups, and technical theatre training gives students hands on experience with the practical mechanics of a production. Leadership includes Tara Knight as owner and executive director, Jacob Morris as manager and artistic director, Malinda Powers as a guest director and voice instructor, and Audrey Alcathie as administrative assistant, a small team covering both the teaching and the running of the organization.

Production participation runs on monthly tuition, billed through the MyMusicStaff.com parent portal or paid by cash or check, plus a $50 costume fee per show; lesson pricing varies by instructor. Rehearsals for the younger group, students under thirteen, are held Monday and Wednesday from 4:15 to 6:15 p.m., while the older group, fourteen and up, rehearses Tuesday and Thursday in either a 4:15 to 6:15 p.m. or 6:15 to 8:15 p.m. block. Ticket holders are asked to be seated ten minutes before curtain, since seats may be reassigned after that point, and weather related cancellations are handled with an exchange or refund.

Summer programming adds another layer to the calendar, with camp sessions that give students a more concentrated block of time to work on performance skills outside the regular academy schedule. Demand has been strong enough that all of the 2026 summer camp sessions sold out, with the organization telling families to check back for the next round of openings. These camps tend to draw families looking for something more structured than a typical day camp, built specifically around singing, acting, and stagecraft rather than general recreation.

The Rand Avenue location serves as both the administrative office and a working studio space, with office hours running Monday through Friday from 8:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon. It is closed on weekends, though performances and camp sessions can extend beyond that window depending on the production schedule. Anyone interested in academy enrollment, ticket information, or the organization’s policies is directed to reach out by phone or by emailing info@bayareaperformingarts.com during those weekday hours. For a city the size of Daphne, having a dedicated performing arts organization producing its own musical theatre while also training the next generation of performers, complete with its own lit stage and raked seating, is not something every small city can claim.